WoW.com running an instance live on Vocalo.org tomorrow at 4pm central - Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:00:00 ESTI've been working in coordination with a group called Vocalo.org here in Chicago for the past few weeks -- they're a community-oriented division of the public radio station WBEZ (the same station that produces NPR shows like "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and "This American Life"), and I've been doing some interviews with their in-studio host. A few weeks ago, we talked to a psychologist friend of mine about video game violence and addiction, last week we chatted with da_bears, a professional gamer here in Chicago (who recently got into World of Warcraft), and this week, we're doing something extra special: I'll be running an instance together with a five-man group live on the air. It'll start up at 4pm central both live on Vocalo.org (and live on the air in Chicago at 89.5FM). As I run through the instance live on the air (I haven't decided which one yet, though I'm thinking Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle or maybe Heroic Old Kingdom), we'll be talking about WoW and other MMOs, why these games are so fascinating, and what it's like to run with a group of five different people, all playing different roles with different abilities.

It should be interesting to say the least -- while the segment will likely be directed at people not as familiar with World of Warcraft as you guys, I'll be sure to keep it interesting even for veteran WoW players (and if we wipe, you can at least laugh at me for being a noob Hunter). I believe we'll also be taking phone calls in the middle of all of this, so if you want, you can probably call up and talk some WoW with me as well.

This all begins tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon at 4pm central time, both online at Vocalo.org and live on the air in Chicago, so if you're available to tune in and give us a listen, please do. I have no idea what will happen (has anyone ever tried to run an instance live on the radio before?), but it should be a lot of fun.

Fan of The Guild? Me too! And you didn't go to Comic-Con last weekend? Me either. Fortunately for us, Microsoft kept the promotion cameras rolling almost the whole week long, and so there's more footage of The Guild at Comic-Con than you probably have time to watch today (although as long as your boss stays away from looking over your shoulder, you can probably give it a try). They went behind the scenes of the show, Felicia Day chatted with Xbox Live's Major Nelson, and the cast talked about what it was like to be around all of the energy at Comic-Con. There's not a lot of new stuff that fans of the show don't already know, but there are some clips of the panel in there, as well as some shots of the characters as they showed up to the Con: dressed in their in-game costumes.

Some of the videos are also available right on Xbox Live (and there's quite a bit of Xbox and Microsoft pimping in the videos, but what do you expect -- not only did MS fund the show's season, but they apparently hooked them up with a party bus and a party to go with it at the Con), and YouTube is also brimming with clips from the panel. Apparently the Whedon-directed music video is also now available on Xbox Live as well, so that should be something to see. Season 3 is just around the corner, and we're still expecting to see these guys at BlizzCon in a few weeks, so stay tuned for more Guild news as we hear it.

For Patch 3.2 we've been steadily updating WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2. with everything we've written about the Patch 3.2 PTR. Included in there are links to the latest patch notes, class changes and analysis, and tons of galleries of the new gear and quests.

For some reason, this post in the WoW Europe general forums asking what shapeshift form has the best dance moves makes me suspicious. The poll itself is innocuous enough, although I don't understand why Tree of Life and Moonkin carry such a commanding lead (Cat is my personal favorite).

No, the suspicious part is: why are they asking this now? New dances were a much-hyped feature in Wrath of the Lich King, although they have so far entirely failed to materialize. If they're still working on them, for 3.3 or 4.0, this might be some market research to see what sort of dances we like.

On the other hand, it may just be an innocent piece of fun from Ancilorn. Who knows?

It's the middle of the week again and once more unto the breach, my friends. Yes, tomorrow is maintenance Wednesday for European players. Fortunately, we told you this morning how EU Blue Wryxian had spilled the beans on the reason for all the recent rolling restarts and weeks of extended maintenance for a few select realms. I always find it's easier to exercise more patience once someone proffers a reason.

So, this week it's time for some rolling restarts. These will take place on all realms between 5:00am and 7:00am CEST, with the usual fifteen minute warning. The following realms (the same will be undergoing an extended maintenance from 3:00am until 11:00 am CEST.

The Patch 3.2 daily quests are all rather straightforward, but since the QuestHelper-esque features that were intended to be in the patch were pulled, we figured we would go over them all anyway. The first one that we'll be tackling is Get Kraken! This quest can only be seen once you've acquired the Crusader title, and it's the return of a Burning Crusade staple: On-rails bombing quests. Watch the video above, and that's pretty much the whole thing. The goal is to chuck 8 Flaming Spears at the kraken that's harassing the Silver Covenant and Sunreaver ships, and use the spear to take out 6 Kvaldir Deepcallers on the way. It's on rails, so there's no search element involved at all. You kill as many as you need while in-flight, or you don't. If you don't, you grab another flight.

I somewhat suspect that when the patch first launches, you're going to be taking the extra flight more often than not. When there are only a few people flying around, there are more than enough Deepcallers to go around. Even though they respawn nearly instantaneously, targeting and hitting them will be a pain when there are dozens and dozens of people doing the quest. The kraken isn't an issue, though. The thing can take a beating, and it's by far the easiest of the two targets. If you don't scare all of your necessary hits on it in one go, chances are you just forgot to do it.

15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

Forget the Brothers Karamazov. If you're looking for artistic expression, passion and the bonds of brotherhood -- plus a healthy dash of World of Warcraft -- it's all about the Brothers Kasprzak. Evan Kasprzak, a Top 6 finalist in the reality show So You Think You Can Dance, has gamed his entire life with brothers Ryan (also a top finisher in this year's SYTYCD show) and Ian. There's no denying how tight this trio is. One viewing of Evan and Ryan's journey through the beginning of this season's SYTYCD competition as a team (see video, above) or a glance at photos of the threesome with their matching wrist tattoos ("brother" in Greek) show the obvious depth of their bond. And so while Evan is socked in right now beneath the insane pace of the competition's home stretch, we snuck in a visit with Ian to find out how the family finds a foothold to fit all the pieces together.

For the gaming, dancing Kasprzaks, support from family includes the WoW family. "In top 6, you can use all the support you can get," Ian notes, "and I know how amazingly supportive the smaller WoW community on my server has been. I also love how WoW.com highlights the multidimensionality of gamers. I think it helps break down some of those stereotypes that gaming is somehow isolating and anti-social, when it is very much a social medium. ... Sometimes, the person behind that Mage that just Frostbolted you might just be someone climbing up their way to the top as America's next favorite dancer."

BroncoTV has really been doing a great job providing interesting videos for the World of Warcraft community. They've just released the new episode in their Alliance vs. Horde series, in which they examine the differences between Azeroth's factions to great comedic effect.

Alliance vs. Horde - Episode 2 focuses on one of the fundamental aspects of WoW game play -- how we group. The Alliance dwarf is eager to go plumb the depths of an instance, while the Horde character is more interested in personal, individual achievement.

Michael Davis and Michael Schroeder are working hard to keep their series "balanced," to avoid out-of-character bias for or against one faction or another. I definitely appreciate the effort, especially since they seem to do a good job keeping their protagonist "true to form." They don't seem to need to adjust the characters' behavior just to suit the joke; instead, both characters seem consistent across the two episodes. I think there's a lot of art that goes into that balancing act, and I tip my hat to BroncoTV for pulling it off.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.

Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all those other shiny MMOs! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world.

Massively's complete Comic-Con 2009 coverageThis week marked the annual pilgrimage to Comic-Con International in San Diego for the comics and gaming faithful, and a number of superhero MMO developers were there as well to whip the fanboys (and girls) into a frenzy. When you think about it, comic conventions are as big for superhero games as other events like E3 and PAX. Massively was on the ground at SDCC this year and among the games we took a look at was, not surprisingly, City of Heroes.

New details emerge on SWTOR's healing and space componentsWhile a lot of the questions were deflected in one way or another -- as this is a game that's probably not coming out for a while -- some tiny new pieces of information did surface. For instance, much of the community has been wondering about healing. Will the game go with the "Holy Trinity" or is something else planned? The answer appears to be a little bit of both.

Champions Online open beta dated, preorder bonuses detailedChampions Online is only five weeks away and with it being so very close, Cryptic has finally announced their preorder bonus plans and partners. If that isn't exciting enough, you'll be happy to know they've also announced August 17th as day one of open beta. Keep in mind that preorders from any of the officially listed retail partners will guarantee access to the beta.

Massively's top four upcoming MMOs that let you flyThe ability to fly has always intrigued us as humans. Even in Leonardo DiVinci's day, the fascination with flight was so overwhelming that he dedicated much of his life to the discovery of getting us off the ground. Modern(ish) technology has helped us realize DiVinci's vision, through the use of enclosed vehicles or other large mechanical contraptions, but we have yet to truly master the art of personal flight.

What's worse than having to run down a tunnel while being chased by a huge boulder? As Tavion of <Of Blood and Bone> on Grizzly Hills recently learned, running upstairs while being chased by an angry giant is infinitely more difficult. "Capped this as I was attemtping to make it out of VoA before getting killed," she wrote. "During a particularly painful PuG 10-Man, the tanks went down almost instantly (stacking stamina does not = tank gear, by the way) and the healers were down seconds later. As I saw it, my best option was just to get the heck out while the fury warrior tried to tank, buying me enough time to make it up the stairs. I was the last one alive and he got me only a few feet from the door."

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word "Azeroth" in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, gold seller ads with dead gnomes, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Earlier in the week, we mentioned that mounts from the WoW Trading Card Game are no longer Bind on Pickup. Do you hear that ever-advancing noise? That thunderous roar? That's the sound of a million collectors cheering their little hearts out. Ever the boon and bane of the die-hard mount addict, these cards have been known to fetch a pretty price on eBay and have been the subject of recent scams. Indeed as the owner of El Pollo Grande, the Big Battle Bear (aka The Red Bearon) and both forms of the X-51 Nether Rocket, I can relate. I really want the infamous Spectral Tiger and now, for the right sum of gold, it seems like I could have a chance.

So I wonder, constant readers, does this change mean you will finally be able to get your hands on a mount without paying top dollar on an auction website? How much exactly, while we're at it, would you be willing to pay with in-game gold for a mount? Why do you think Blizzard have implemented this system? Is it just another gold sink or the answer to many players' prayers?

Tuesday Morning Post: The BlizzCon cometh edition - Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:00:00 ESTGood Tuesday morning, everyone! So it looks like we have at least one more week of Patch 3.1. But here's the good news: We're just about to hit August, and August is BlizzCon month! And of course, I know you're all looking forward to the premiere event of BlizzCon, the WoW.com meetup. That's right, we're back and better than ever, and we got a sweet new spot for the shindigs. You can see all the details here and then proceed to make your plans or be jealous as your ability to attend dictates.

Earlier today, emails started going out to those who were interested in an opportunity to attend the Laguna Art Museum's VIP Benefit Dinner, sponsored by Blizzard themselves. The benefit will take place the night before BlizzCon, at a to-be-determined location near the convention center.

For the curious, tickets are $500 each and include the meal, a BlizzCon ticket, a signed print of Blizzard artwork, two-for-one admission to Laguna Art Museum's current WoW-themed exhibition, and "an opportunity to converse with executives, artists, developers, and community managers from Blizzard Entertainment as well as Laguna Art Museum's curator." If you signed up to win a chance at buying tickets, you might want to make sure you check your email sometime soon. You'll only have a 48 hour period to buy your tickets (limit two), so if you don't get it done soon you'll miss your chance.

The last time we posted about Brajana and her SPCA charity drive over on Mend Pet, she'd only just started it and was revving up to get a nice list of prizes going. Nowadays, she's got a great list of prizes (including a free FigurePets set, a few good loot cards, some custom-made character artwork, and even a custom-designed UI -- you can make yours look just like Turpster's if you want), and she's rolling into the last few days of the drive. It all ends on Friday, July 31st, so if you haven't gotten your donation in to the SPCA International yet (the money will go to volunteer programs, including animal shelters all of the world, and help out with food, shelter, and vaccination costs), do so right away. And make sure to follow the instructions on Brajana's site -- for every donation you make, no matter how big or small, you'll get two chances to pick up some of that great loot, and you'll be helping out real-life pets all over the world.

It's a great way to help out a worthy cause, give some back to the Warcraft community and the hard work that bloggers like Brajana do, and maybe even win some free stuff. Remember, she's asking for your donation before Friday, July 31st, so head over there and get it in as soon as possible.

Speculating on a new resource system for Hunters - Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:00:00 ESTAs we said on the podcast this weekend, one of the most interesting things to come out of the Hunter Q&A last week was that vague about "long-term plans" to "[remove] the need for hunters to rely on a different resource system then mana." That one kind of came out of nowhere, and the answer was even more vague: basically, they promised to talk about it at BlizzCon. Of course, that's what our attracted our attention: is Blizzard planning on getting Hunters off of their mana system completely?

That would be quite a change -- since the beginning of the game, Hunters have relied on mana as their "resource" -- Warriors have Rage and Rogues have Energy, but Hunters somehow got looped in with the other DPSers as mana users. That doesn't make much sense -- not only does it depend on Intelligence (a stat which Hunters don't really have a reason to go after anyway), but it's lead to the problem of keeping Hunters powered up. Hunters are almost continually out of mana, and Blizzard has made some wacky mechanic tweaks (with both AotV and Replenishment) to try and keep them up and running.

Addiction therapists trying to help addicted in the game - Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:00:00 ESTBritain's Telegraph newspaper has news about addiction therapists joining the game themselves, specifically to find and seek out players who might meet the definition of addicted to World of Warcraft. They're actually looking for official Blizzard support, too. I'm not sure how much help you can actually provide by chatting with a player in the game ("Hello, it looks like you've been online for the last 16 hours, are you addicted?"), but they want to do it.

"While a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft. We may have to work at that if we are going to get through to those who play this game for hours at end."

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Allison Robert is your host today, because Alex and Adam are off fighting Romulan time-travelers while she is on academic probation pending an investigation from Starfleet.It's a cruel world out there for creative problem-solvers.

Yes! I am going to break the cycle of YouTube videos with a silly picture. A few PvP-related questions today, which I believe is karmic payback for stealing the column, because I loathe PvP. Oy!

Elry asks...

Is there any hint that anytime in the future Blizzard will implement a harsher sentence than no honor points on high level players ganking much lower ones?

Something like this was actually part of the classic game in the form of the Dishonorable Kill, which went the way of the dinosaur in Patch 2.0.1. You can argue that the problems with Dishonorable Kills arose entirely from execution rather than concept, and the implementation of a Dishonorable-Killesque punishment on gankers is a pretty common request. Let's be frank -- nobody really defends ganking, Blizzard included. But, as any GM could tell you, as long as there's a "PvP solution" (read: getting your own faction's players to hunt down the jerk who's camping you) to your problems, there's not much they can or will do unless the player concerned is definitely griefing.

Blizzard EU has released a long and detailed statement concerning the recent waves of extended maintenance and how it's connected to the problems associated with launching instances. For several months players have been plagued with the message "Additional instances cannot be launched." The message was being caused by overloaded instance servers, and for a long time there was seemingly nothing Blizzard could do about it.

Blizzard's statement today clearly informs us that all the extended maintenance we've been seeing is directly due Blizzard implementing fixes for the problems server-side. While the statement comes from an EU source, once can assume rather easily that it applies to the US as well.

While no timeframe is given as to exactly when this will be done for all realms, it is very good to know that stuff is getting done behind the scenes. And this look at exactly what Blizzard is doing to their servers represents a rare glimpse into their inner workings. Usually Blizzard is pretty tight lipped about what exactly is happening with their hardware.

Of course, this is one of the causes for the way the Crusaders' Coliseum in patch 3.2 is designed: instead of having both hard and normal modes constrained to one instance, you can run a 10 or 25-man instance in normal mode all the way, leaving the Heroic mode open when you're ready to do some wiping.

But then again, think about what the mindset is here -- players are throwing themselves on early bosses' hard modes even when they haven't beaten the end bosses yet. It seems like most raids will take any opportunity they get for more loot, no matter how tough it is, and that's what's leading to all of this "glass chewing" Karl is talking about. Even if Blizzard gives players the option to run a normal instance without worrying about hard modes, won't players still just run Heroic anyway, for the better gear?

WoW Insider Show Episode 100: Trip down memory lane - Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:00:00 ESTWe recorded our 100th podcast last Saturday, and it was a doozy. There was so much awesomeness, in fact, that our recording equipment just couldn't handle all of it. But worry not -- below you'll find a kind of a clip show, including all of our looks at the history of the funniest moments in the show (including one moment that we've never before had on the recorded feed), as well as some discussion by our guests John "BigBearButt" Patricelli and Brigwyn (along with Turpster and I) about the Druid and Hunter Q&As last week. We don't have the video coming into iTunes, but just in case you want to see my ugly mug talking, you can watch the archived video over on the Ustream page. Turpster also had video running during the show, but that's what caused most of our lag, and Ustream doesn't record that anyway.

The show also includes not one but two different songs we've recorded over the past few years, as well as a short look at what things were like on our very first episode (the very first time Turpster and I were ever on the air together). It's been quite an amazing two years, and thanks again, our listeners, for all your support so far.

Enjoy the show -- we'll be back as usual next weekend, to kick off our next 100 shows (and of course BlizzCon is right around the corner: we'll be streaming live from the meetup, and we're planning on doing a special podcast with our staff there every single night after the show, too).

Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

So much for fears of audiences not relating to "non-human" heroes. After a successful run featuring the travails of tailored-for-badassness Alliance leader Varian Wrynn, Wildstorm studios announced during the San Diego Comic Con 2009 that the World of Warcraftcomic will be splitting into two titles after Issue #25. The issue will conclude the current story arc and will trigger events that will lead to the spinoff of a Horde-centric World of Warcraft comic slated to launch in January, 2010.

Although BlizzPlanet reports that there were little details beyond that - they point to an earlier interview they did with Walt Simonson who dodged the question about such a title - there'll likely be more information in the coming weeks. In particular, players and comic fans alike should prepare for significant announcements regarding this and other projects during BlizzCon. A title featuring the Horde should quell one of the biggest criticisms levied against the comic, and should be a refreshing change of pace.

Eternity's End by Deathmatic is one of those World of Warcraft films that really tests my knowledge of lore. Deathmatic is creating this movie based on the Warcraft III campaign of the same name. This is the first three minutes or so of his movie, and he released it both as a preview and to try and get some feedback about what could be improved.

I was actually kind of surprised to hear Deathmatic describe himself as a newbie, because he's doing one hell of a job so far. The voice acting is great, and the scripting seems pretty strong. (And this is where my own inexperience may play a role, if this voice-acting is actually from the Warcraft III game.)

In terms of pure animation, I think Deathmatic's chosen some pretty good shots. The way he's pacing and framing each character keeps any scene from lingering too long, and he seems to be leaning towards an appropriate flair for the dramatic. Overall, I'd say he's doing good work, and he just needs to keep up the great job.

How many members should your raiding guild have? It's a simple question with a complex answer. This week, one reader wonders whether his guild simply has too many people.

Hi, Scott.

I'd like to first mention that I'm a big fan of your column, Officers' Quarters. Rock on! And today, I'd like to ask you for advice on the problem that my guild is facing.

I'm a member of a raiding guild, one that hovers just below the best guilds of our realm. We have cleared 10man Ulduar, and I was lucky enough be there as I'm a member of our 10man progression team, which is now doing hard modes. Our 25man . . . well, thats where the problem comes in. Back in May, we didn't have enough strong players to really progress past antechamber. Then things started coming up for our raiders -- we couldn't do a 25man guild run for whole 3 weeks in May-June due to lack of people!

So our officers aggressively recruited people, some of them geared members of a reputable guild that recently went down and some of them friends transferred in from other servers, and our new recruits recommended us with their friends who were also exceptional players. After 3 weeks of no 25man progression, we found ourselves with just under 40 people online for our raid night.

Rhorle of <The Stonecutters> on Hydraxis decided to congratulate a Druid friend on his new child by snapping a series of bear parenting screenshots. In this shot, the big daddy polar bear is attempting to teach baby bear how to hunt, although the cub seems to lack a certain killer instinct, and the penguins don't seem particularly afraid of the ursine menace. Very nice present for your friend, Rhorle!

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word "Azeroth" in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, gold seller ads with dead gnomes, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

World of WarCrafts: My Lich King Pony - Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:00:00 ESTWorld of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by contacting our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) -- not-for-profit work only, please.

Heat got you down? Summer raid attendance and progression wilting? Have a case of the midsummer doldrums? Sometimes, it's good to start out your week with something a little, err, different. Cue this week's World of WarCrafts project, combining the runes of Frostmourne and the power of the Lich King with ... My Little Pony.

If you're suddenly humming "one of these things is not like the other," we'd suspect you've perked up and are catching on fast. That's the reaction we suspect most people have when confronted by the frosty terror of My Lich King Pony from Rosenrot of Nazgrel-US. "I love crafting and WoW," Rosenrot writes, "and when I was a little girl, I loved My Little Pony. I wanted to combine my past and current loves into one really cool project!"

Given the success of phasing, players have been kicking around suggestions for instances or zones that could do with a touch of it, and Gnomeregan seems to be a pretty consistent pick. I'd have to agree, but I'd also add the Echo Isles (the Gnomes and Trolls have overcome their low-level foes by now, surely?) and perhaps Duskwood for starters. Is there any other zone or instance that you think would benefit from a little reality-bending?

This means it should be easier to obtain these special mounts if players are indeed selling them for copious amounts of gold - conceivably setting record amounts at the auction house. This effectively kills the scamming method of supposedly selling desireable items like the Spectral Tiger mount. On the other hand, someone with real world cash who gets one of those mounts off eBay can theoretically trade it in game for some whopper gold. That's kind of like they're selling gold in some roundabout way. Either way, score one for Blizzard. It looks like it might be time to start earning a bit of money... think anyone will sell the tiger for 500 Gold? No? Drat.Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!

All the World's a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one man in his time plays many roles.

Ever since word broke about the possibility of playing either a worgen or a goblin, I've been thinking a lot about how it would be to roleplay them. In terms of lore, each one fits in very nicely -- the goblins have the neutral city of Undermine not far from the great Maelstrom at the center of the world, and the worgen have lots of connections to other dimensions, possibly the Emerald Dream. Assuming the expansion is in fact going to be a combination of the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream, each race could have a lot to do with why the Horde and the Alliance are eager to go and continue the adventure after Northrend.

Some others are talking about how and why these races would join either faction. The goblins seem a shoo-in for the Horde, since they've already got so many connections with one another above and beyond the ostensible neutrality the goblins maintain between the Horde and the Alliance. The worgen connection to the Alliance is a bit tougher to figure out, but there are two apparent possibilities: either the humans of Gilneas have become worgen and wish to rejoin their former brethren, or the original worgen from their own dimension somehow join up with the Alliance in order to fight off a shared enemy such as the Burning Legion or the "Nightmare" of the Emerald Dream.

Today we'll discuss both of these possibilities and stake my claim on which I think is more likely, and look at a number of the story hooks that worgen and goblins could create for roleplayers if and when we get the chance to play them.

A pair of contests popped up on the World of Warcraft official site in the past few days, reminding everyone of a small and closing window to try and get to BlizzCon. One contest, sponsored by Alienware, requires absolutely nothing more than signing up for the DELL newsletter through their Back to School 2009 promo page. That's it. No, seriously, that's it. Of course, it comes with the usual caveat that only allows entries from the United States, but it's a shot at winning BlizzCon tickets without so much as getting up from your comfortable chair. Read the official rules carefully, though, because it doesn't seem like the tickets come with airfare or accommodations (go figure!).

The second contest is run by Nvidia, and it sounds like a sweeter deal because unlike most contests, this one is open to the residents of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and India (except those guys from Tamil Nadu). Sounds great, right? Well, you also need to purchase one of the following qualifying graphics cards to enter - an NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT, NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+, or NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250. Considering this contest gives an all-expense paid trip to Anaheim and the fact that you need some mighty graphics to run WoW well anyway, it's not such a bad idea. Otherwise, you can go write that letter. Both contests end on July 31, so you've all got little time to spare. See you at BlizzCon!

Here's a cute story to brighten up your Sunday. Tenen, a Dwarf Warrior in Modan Co on Moon Guard, decided that he would start at level one and only explore. No quests, no killing mobs, no PvP. Just exploration.

Seventeen levels later, he's explored every single outdoor zone in the game, and completed the World Explorer achievement. So if you wanted to know how much XP you could get just from exploring, there's your answer. It took four days of playtime to accomplish.

Of course, he couldn't do it all on his own; aside from the ravenous mobs, some areas are simply inaccessible without a flying mount. He got some summoning help from a cooperative Warlock. The Charge skill was also apparently useful in getting to some hard-to-reach places.

Congrats to Tenen! It's always nice to see players do something a little different.

I've been leveling my Restoration Shaman through Northrend, and the closer he gets to the level cap, the more I find myself getting unnerved comparing his group experiences to those of my main, a Druid tank. This past week, for example, I've healed normal 5-mans on my Shaman, then relogged and tanked heroic 5-mans on my Druid (in some cases, the very same content my shammy just did on normal). With very few exceptions, my shammy's had a tough time of it, whereas my main has sailed through her pugs without a care in the world. Initially I chalked this up to having a lot less experience playing a Shaman, but I think it was around the time that my shammy's second Utgarde Keep PuG quit at Ingvar after wiping for 30 minutes* (no joke -- and yes, this was on normal) that I had a small epiphany; maybe the reason I've enjoyed pugs so much is that I've almost always played a character who's largely immune to their faults.

A young night elf contemplates the difficult tasks that lie ahead in Westfall. Judging by the blurriness around the edges, she may have fortified her courage with a bit of moonshine. Isn't level 13 below the drinking age in Azeroth? At least she isn't using that crystal meth that the Saldean family's been cooking up in their barn.

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With that in mind, I've been thinking of who I'd like to see take a starring role in a future expansion. Turalyon and Alleria are definitely the biggest stars I can think of who have yet to make an appearance. I'd love to see them come back through a portal from whatever world they're on, with all the drama that would bring. Does Turalyon still hold a grudge against the orcs for the death of Lothar? What will Alleria think of the Blood Elves and of what her sisters have been up to?

Each week Arcane Brilliance conjures a portal into the darkest regions of your soul. You should tip Arcane Brilliance, though....those reagents cost money, guys. Also, your soul has a lot of dark regions, so finding the darkest ones is actually kind of a pain. Seriously, tip. Arcane Brilliance took time out of its day to come over and open that portal for you--time that could have been spent killing Warlocks. Compensate Arcane Brilliance. I don't think that's asking too much, really. A couple thousand gold will do. Arcane Brilliance isn't picky. Oh, and Arcane Brilliance also has a Spectral Tiger mount to sell you...

Gather round, I want to tell you all a story.

Once upon a time, we all hit the level cap (or maybe you haven't yet, but just go with it). We were stumbling around Blasted Lands, or Netherstorm, or more recently, Storm Peaks or something, setting things on fire like we tend to do, and suddenly we realized we weren't getting experience points anymore. What to do now? Our gear sucked; we were tromping around sporting some kind of purple turban, a hideous brown shirt with agility on it, and probably a pink skirt that showed way too much leg or something. We glanced around and probably saw some other Mage flying by on a giant golden dragon, wearing a slick getup that looked as if had come off the rack as a matching set at Archmages R Us, carrying a staff that was constructed out of a full demon skeleton and pulsed with the pallid red malice of a thousand hells. We looked down at the flimsy stick or crappiness we'd found on a kobold corpse about 6 levels back, and we wanted more.

Unfortunately, the gear that other Mage had could only be obtained through raiding, and you couldn't spell DPS if you had a dictionary and a last name with 72 consonants in it. To get good gear, you had to have good gear, and your flimsy stick of crappiness just wasn't going to cut it. So you put your nose to the grindstone. You got into max-level instances. You ground reputation with 17 different factions. You saved your pennies and bought things on the auction house. You applied yourself to a profession until you could craft yourself some kind of epic pants or something. Little by little, you pieced together the best of what the pre-raid end-game had to offer, until one day your guild finally let you come along to your first raid. Then the Warlock won the roll on that sweet wand from the fourth boss, and you checked to see if you could kill another person through your computer screen, just by hating them enough. Turns out you can't. Shame.

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Ideas for a woodworking profession have been bounced around for years, but have previously been dodged by Blizzard. Although they assured us that they have plenty of ideas, they've always been working on too many others.

Woodworking was not to be for Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King, but what about the upcoming expansion? Considering that Goblins and Worgen could become playable, it might be a real possibility.

In late summer 2007, Nethaera posted a list of some of the things that need to be considered before they can even begin to implement a new profession. While it became clear that it wasn't going to work for Wrath, it seems a little more plausible now.

Today's column will be dedicated to presenting the crafting community's Woodworking ideas, discussing their implementation using the (incomplete) criteria set forth by Nethaera, and speculating about its possible presence in the next expansion.

As your intrepid WoW.com Action News Team was preparing for the weekend -- and this weekend's WRUP -- I was struck with an astounding thought. It seemed like just about everyone was rocking out an alt character . . . or a Death Knight. A couple were even going for the gold, and leveling an alt Death Knight. Of course, we have a couple odd folks who don't quite fit that bill. Still, keep an eye on the Lichborne hanging out in a Hellfire Peninsula near you. It might just be one of us.

The Care and Feeding of Warriors is WoW.com's weekly column about all things clanky and rage-related. Matthew Rossi felt like using that old, old, lookit me in my bug shoulders from AQ40 screenshot. Yes, those are the Might legs. We can all look back and laugh now, sure. Back then it wasn't funny.

Believe it or not, there is a method to this particular madness. Since Blizzard was so kind to go back and release more Q&A for warriors this week, I felt to some degree constrained to talk about the answers they gave (and the questions they answered, for that matter) and in going over the post, one particular passage brought me back to the beginning, so to speak. To the days of running MC, BWL and AQ, gearing up in anticipation of patch 1.11 and Naxxramas. Let's look at the particular exchange I'm referring to.

Community Team: It appears that many players who enjoy the Warrior class for its damage aspects continue to feel that, without best in-slot items, their class's performance is very truncated.

Q: Is this an issue that we have seen in the Warrior class? If so, do we have any plans to accommodate those players who do not have best in-slot items, while still keeping those with the very best equipment from being too powerful?

A:This really just gets back to the way rage works, which is that damage leads to rage so you have to pick a point at which you balance warriors. High damage and high rage? Low damage and low rage? The way to fix it is to normalize rage even more so that you always get X rage per second regardless of gear. But once you always get X rage per second you essentially just have rogue energy. So, as with the previous question, we don't like the way it is working and want to change it but we don't have a perfect substitute in the can just yet.

This has been an issue for the warrior class since Blackwing Lair. See? I told you there was a reason I dragged out the old picture.